The Last of Us
by BananaBush
Summary: This is an alternate ending story I wrote for a wattpad pledge, and wanted to share here. In dedication to the new trailer coming out for the sequel, here is what I'm pretty sure happens next, and a little twist at the end.
1. Chapter 1

"Swear to me." Ellie said, eyes as hopeful as they were doubtful. She knew what kind of man he was. A deceitful, aggressive "survivor." But this was his last chance.

"Swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies was true."

Joel shifted around, locking his attention on her face as if that would make what he was about to say any more believable. "I swear."

And there it was. The lie she couldn't take. "Okay." She said. "I'm sorry."

Her back was turned to him, and the wind pushed against her face. The sun was high up in the sky. It was only noon, and they had only been driving for about an hour. Heading back now would result in a destination met before dark. It was time to say goodbye to this man.

"Wha- sorry for what?" He asked, breaking his sentence up and tossing in some attitude.

"They fucking told me, Joel." She barked. "The doctors. There were no others like me, you're lying."

His mouth hung open, and his eyes squinted, trying to think of something to say, but all he could really do, was let her speak.

"I was supposed to die. Riley was waiting for me, and she still is. Do you have any idea what you've done? I was ready."  
"No. No, that was not your purpose, Ellie."  
"What the hell do you know about my purpose? You should have let Tommy take me."

"If you knew, than why didn't you say anything? Why wait until now?"

"Would you have let me out of the truck?"

He said nothing, just stared, trying to figure out what that meant. What she was planning on doing.

"I'm going back, Joel. This is goodbye." She said with a cracking voice.

Knowing that death was imminent was hard. She'd go to sleep, and never wake up. Her consciousness would slowly disappear from the universe, but it sounded like a sweet exchange for the promised safety of others. It made it easier to let herself go.

"Do you really think I'll just let you leave?" He laughed. Laughed like an evil man. Ellie knew he was cynical, but he was never that way towards her. "After everything we've been through together, you think I'll just let you basically go and kill your damn self?"

"Not. Your. Choice. You aren't my dad, remember? And I 'sure as hell ain't' your daughter."

Those words he said to her back then were bitter, but it was only a wall that was torn down almost as fast as it was built. She was his daughter, for all intents and purposes, and it was obvious that Ellie loved him back, otherwise, that conversation never would have taken place.

"You don't mean that." He said, pointing, and shuffling his feet "This is not goodbye, you don't mean that."

For the first time since they met, this was a first, where Joel showed her his weaknesses. Now his voice was actually shaking. He was scared, and it was apparent. Losing Sara was hard. Now he had to lose someone he loved all over again

Ellie grit her teeth, regretting saying that. Joel's tough guy act rubbed off on her since the incident at the hotel. It had to, they'd both be dead if it hadn't, but it wasn't hard to tell that the act, was just an act. A curtain. She didn't want to hurt him.

There was nothing left to say. Every minute they spoke was another minute wasted, and if she got stuck in the dark, danger would increase. It wasn't that she was in a hurry to die, she just didn't plan on dying the wrong way. Getting eaten by a pack of clickers was definitely the wrong way.

She took a step, but no more. Joel had wrapped both of his arms around her, refusing to let go, refusing to let that child go and be sacrificed over something that may not even work. "You'll have to kill me first, Ellie."

"God-damn-IT!" She hollered in frustration, palms of her hands on his forearms, pushing down so she could try to inch up little by little. "Joel, JOEL let go of me!"

He let go, but turned her around so if she ran, she'd have to run past him first, where he would be able to catch her.  
"I don't know what you think you're doing. You and Tess, you were just hires meant to get me from point A, to point B. It's time to let go."

"You're one to talk, don't ya think? A little while ago, you were damn close to TEARS at the thought of me leaving. Now you wanna play the one with the cold heart, huh? Well I can be just as cold." He promised. "Hate me all you want, but you ain't going no where."

She raised her gun up, finding all the courage in the world to pull the trigger by thinking of all the people who have died in this new world. If he wouldn't let her go, she'd shoot him. Shoot him in the leg to give him a chance of living, but not a chance of catching her.

He was shocked. After all those months having each others backs, after all those close calls, here she was holding a gun to him. For a second it made him think he really did do something wrong, but no longer. Memories flashed in his head. They were of her, and him, from back when they first met, from finding random places to wait out the rain, and all the things he taught her. Even her annoying whistling would be something he'd miss, but the thought of her not growing up tore him up the most. An image of her lifeless, cold body laying on a slab snapped something in his brain.

Joel's body turned to the side, quick as lightening, before Ellie could even realize what was happening. His fingers pushed down on her wrist, and a shot was fired into the ground. Felt like 3 seconds went by and he had her gun in his hands.

"I'm going to find Marlene one way or another."

"Marlene is dead!" He yelled, biting his lip right after her said it, sighing because he couldn't believe how dumb he was.

This is where Ellie cried.


	2. Chapter 2

"No, I just saw her, that's not possible."  
"Ellie."

He reached out for her, but she stepped back. Thinking about it, it didn't seem likely that the fearsome fireflies just let them stroll on out. She didn't even have a choice, the way that Marlene put it, who sounded relieved when Ellie told her she'd stay no matter what.

"What did you do?"

Quickly, he thought of another lie. It was instinctual to say the least. "I heard gun shots." He said. "When I got to the bottom floor, I found her there. Heard some men talking, they say she let you go, that it was a "conflict" of interest."

She was actually buying it.

"The way they put it, sounded like she had it coming for a while. Probably blamed her for the military wiping them out. I didn't want you to find out... that she was gone."

Ellie ran off in the opposite direction he expected her to go. She ran, and ran, faster than Joel could have ever gone, even in his prime. If it weren't for the tracks she left behind, he was afraid he'd lose her.

There was a house off in the distance, so close she could see the shingles start to appear from over the hill, but so far she hadn't yet noticed the rest of the neighborhood that was hidden. It was a trek away, and she counted each one of her panicked, small breaths.

The asphalt was cracking, and little weeds were growing out from under. Cars sat in random places, some with hoods popped, and some still in the crashed position they were in when abandoned. A fire hydrant lay in the over grown grass.

Only one house remained with all its integrity standing. The others had holes in the roofs, some without roofs at all. Doors were gone, windows were busted. It was almost as if someone had been protecting this one. Houses never stayed well-kept for long.

"So now that Marlene's out of the picture, whose taking over?" Asked a mans voice from around the corner of one of the houses-turned-shack. Ellie's heart did that skip it did every time peace and quiet was interrupted, and she looked around for cover.

Knees bent, low to the ground, she moved towards a window. Little shards of glass were sticking up from the windows channel, so she was hesitant to lay her hands down. She hurried to take her coat off.

The second the very last part of her body disappeared from the outside, these men walked by, and when they stopped talking, she stopped breathing.

Their footsteps were heavy, their clothes rubbed loudly against their sides. "I'm glad she's dead." A man said. "Maybe now we can make some real progress."

They continued to talk, and Ellie raged inside, cocking her gun and popping up from behind the window. A few shots fired, but with trembling hands, she missed, immediately retreating to the back of the house. It wasn't long, or hard to lose them. It wasn't Marlene, it was the men who joined who lacked common sense that got everyone killed.

"Idiots." She uttered, choking on emotion, and racing to the house.

Up on the porch, she had the perfect shot, and placed her rifle through a hole in the wood, squinting through her scope. BANG, BANG. They were gone.

A hand grabbed her from behind. It was rough, cold, and started pulling her head back. Her eyes rolled upward, and she saw the image of a man, angry with a knife that was arching back. He seemed to be moving in slow motion, and she was moving at high speed, grabbing the knife from her boot and jabbing it in his leg. He let her go, and she went at it, stabbing him over, and over, and over, paying no mind to the gargled screams from blood filling his throat. He would have shown her no mercy, so she showed him none. You get what you give.

Someone was hiding behind the door, and a guitar dropped on the ground. The strings echoed in it's hollow, acoustic chamber in messy notes. It made her cringe, listening to the tuning come undone like that. Instruments were so delicate, it was painful to seem them harmed.

BANG. BANG. BANG. Three more dead, all in different rooms. She started to think nobody was a match for her. It was all thanks to Joel, really. He taught her how to survive, but that type of survival made it a friendless one. If you don't talk to strangers, that's all they'll ever be.

Hands were shaking, her head was bleeding, but no thoughts were rested on the discomfort her body provided. With that guitar on her lap, she took in 3 deep breaths, holding out the quivering fingers, then crushing them into a fist. The next time she released them, they were still, and she wasn't shaking anymore.

Joel walked up to the house. Bodies laid outside, and they laid inside. Blood was smeared on the streets, and the wooden floors, even the walls. A man was curled up in the corner of the bathroom. What a terrible place to die.

Each one of these men had something in common. They all wore firefly pendants around their necks. She killed them all, but it was a good thing. At least now he knew she wouldn't go back. Her plan was to wipe them out, he knew her by now.

"I can't walk the path of the right, when I'm wrong."  
She sang

Joel stopped, and leaned on the threshold, watching, and listening. She sounded like a blues angel.

"What are you doing, kiddo?" He asked. "Are you really gonna go through with this?"

Ellie took another breath, and set the guitar down, listening to the sound the wind made as it blew through the cracked window. It almost whistled.

"I'm gonna find them." She said, looking at him now. "And I'm gonna kill every last one of them."


End file.
